Having a "Blonde" moment !

 Apologies to all blondes who read this blog!
Several weeks ago I bought some wool with a view to knitting Cody a nice jumper or cardi.

Before I started Cals cable jumper I looked out this wool and tried to find a pattern that I could use, so it would all ready and waiting for me. To my dismay I found I would need about 400grms for a jumper for him and I couldn't understand why I'd only bought two balls.
So today Malc and I had a couple of hours out on our own, we went for a delicious cream tea at this place where the lovely wool shop that I buy my wool from is too.
So I bought another two balls and got home only to find that the balls are 200grms each! So I had bought enough! I can't believe I didn't realise how much bigger the ball was than the usual 100 grms I buy.
On the up side I now have enough wool to do Cody AND Soloman matching jumpers!

Feeling better.

Thanks for everybody's well wishes, I feel so much better now. I had some sort of stomach bug, nobody else got it luckily. I feel so privileged to have had it all to myself!
Saturday whilst I was ill Malc and the three youngest boys had a fun swim at the local swimming pool with the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. All the inflatables were thrown in and they all had a fantastic time.
Yesterday the three youngest had St George's parade which went really well, luckily it stayed dry whilst they marched.
I thought I'd leave you with a beautiful flower, I think it's an azalea, it was given to me by a lovely lady last year. It's a lot bigger than any I've seen before so if you think it isn't and think you know what it could be I would be very grateful if you could let me know.

 A close up,

Forgive the gate, it's in need of some paint, a job for the summer I think! I just thought that the red flowers looked so beautiful amongst the greenery.

Boys on Parade.

I've been ill, recovering now, but I really don't want to write much. At the same time I don't want to not blog for days so here's a picture of Clark, Soloman and Cody before they set off for their annual St George's parade with Beavers, Cubs and Scouts today.

Wareham Forest again!

Firstly I'd like to say Hi to a new follower, Amanda from eight by six.
Thank you for all yesterdays comments too. Our meal out was scrummy, a roast followed by a honeycomb sundae. Lush!
This morning was filled with schoolwork from workbooks, all four boys did age appropriate to them for about an hour, then the youngest two read their schoolbooks to me. We had lunch and loaded up the dogs, a couple of bottles of water and some biscuits and set off for the forest.

There are some walks that we know and have done a few times, sometimes we add bits onto them.
Today's walk was one we've done several times.
You walk up this path and you come to some bushes in front of a load of trees.

If you walk through the bushes you come to somewhere we call "Narnia"

 There's no greenery, just row upon row of trees

Underfoot is a thick layer of pine needles, dead and brown. We've never met anyone in here before, you could spend all day in there following the paths. It's colder and darker in there and of course boys being boys all sorts of adventures are had in "Narnia"!

We found these four hobgoblins in there.

After going through Narnia you follow another path that takes you to the top of a hill. We sat and ate our biscuits and drank our water with the dogs milling around and the boys watched the huge ants going about their business.

Soloman is mad on guns so anything in his hands can become one!

We walked for about one and a half hours before heading to the minibus and then to Asdas for a couple of things that I couldn't 

get during the week.

We then picked Eden up as she had Chamber Choir after school.

We've had tea and the boys have been playing out with their friends all evening. They're now in the bath, there's not much on TV again tonight so I think it'll be an early night all round.

School work, weather and knitting.

More rain here today, my mop is leant against the back door ready for use!
After doing the basic housework we concentrated on the bathroom, cleaning down all the tiles and all the baskets holding all the toiletries which get quite dusty and covered in soap and toothpaste from grubby little boys!
Soloman and Cody then read their schoolbooks to me,  Callum and Clark don't really read to me any more unless they particularly ask me.
I then read the story of St George which I've been doing for about eight years now so it's pretty much known in this house.
We wrote letters to Nanny in Essex, just got to get some stamps so we can post it!
Malc and I went shopping leaving the two youngest on their tablets watching minecraft movies and the oldest working away with some workbooks.
Our local Lidl is just down the bottom of the estate we live on so we were only gone for an hour.
Shopping has been packed away and dinner eaten.
The boys can choose what they want to do this afternoon but I can guarantee you it won't be anything too strenuous!
Malc and I are going out to our local Toby carvery with my Mum and Dad at tea time to use some vouchers up that we were given at Christmas. I'm really looking forward to that.
I've finally managed to take some pictures of my knitting.

 This close up makes the wool look quite grey but it's actually a dark denim blue colour. It isn't growing very fast but I just don't seem to be getting any time to knit at the moment.

Never mind, it's probably not going to be needed until the autumn anyway so there's no rush.

St George.

Hurrah for St George and his 'lil old dragon!

                                      Happy St George's Day

Back to normal

Eden went back to school today, Malc went back to work, the older boys helping him so as to earn their pocket money and me? I did loads of housework, I blitzed downstairs, hovering and washing floors, polishing and washing floors again! (We had rain overnight and so the floor kept getting covered in footprints from my lovely dogs!)
Malc and the boys came home for lunch and then he took all four boys to the cinema, we purposely waited until the schools were back before we went as it gets so busy during the holidays.
They went to see Rio 2,

They enjoyed it from what I can gather, Cody said it was very loud!
I did some ironing whilst they were out and I actually had half an hour to read my library book, which is a very rare occurrence!
We've had tea and Malcs gone to a Beaver leaders meeting, at a pub! Funny that!
I haven't taken a picture of my knitting yet so no picture as promised.
There's not a lot on TV tonight so I'm off to read my book again!

Chocolate for breakfast!

That's how the day started! In years gone by I used to make the children have a proper breakfast first, Eden,Cody and Callum did but Soloman and Clark couldn't wait to get stuck into their stash!
Nowadays I pick my battles with them, I have things I'm not so worried about, things I don't like but will negotiate on and then there's the things that under any circumstances I will not have, so nowadays I can let some things go otherwise I would be arguing all day with them.
Eden had her singing job at church this morning, when she got back we had a quick lunch and then waited for our visitors to arrive.
Callum was pleasantly surprised and had a great time catching up with his friend whilst we chatted to her mum, who is lovely.
They left and we had tea and baths and then we had another surprise visitor in the guise of Chris, our church Youth worker who'd brought the children an Easter Egg, he stayed for a while.
Malc and I have just peeled and chopped the veg for a roast dinner tomorrow as we've got my Mum and Dad coming for lunch. Unfortunately we've got to work tomorrow morning but it'll only take about one and a half hours to complete the job. I thought if we did all the food prep tonight we'll have a head start on the cooking for tomorrow.
I'm off to do some knitting, I'm doing a chunky knit cable jumper for Callum so there should be some pictures of how I'm getting on in my next post.

Busy Days

Thursday we had to pick it Eden up from her friends, go straight to town, pick up a parcel from the post office and go to the bank.
I went to see a lady about becoming her cleaner for a couple of hours a week in the afternoon. She's disabled and needs a little help.
Then we took Eden back to the same friends that she stayed at the  night before as they were going to a party.
Had a quiet evening in watching TV and went to pick her back up at midnight.
Today I've been to my Mums for a couple of hours to do some cleaning, my sister and nephew came over to exchange Easter Eggs and the back garden has had the grass cut and we've finally got round to rotavating the veg patch. Yes, it has finally dried out!
Malc has taken Eden to another friends for the evening, we are picking her up at 10-30 pm, the boys are playing out, they've got another half an hour before they have to come in.
We are really busy again for the next few days. I was hoping to have Sunday to ourselves but somebody has just rang to ask to come and see us.
Their visit will be a great surprise for Callum as it's a friend he met when we were camping about five years ago, Beth and Callum took a shine to each other and since then regularly write and phone each other. Beth and her family are coming to Bournemouth for a dancing competition so they asked if they could come and see us. They came to see us about three years ago. So we're not going to tell Callum and we'll make him answer the door. I can't wait to see his face.
I'll leave you with a picture of the children's Easter Eggs, they already have three and I know they have two more coming!
 I have to label them so there's no arguing over who's is whose.

Tents

We have a few, Clark had his two man one, Eden has her four man one and we also have a big fifteen man one which is about twelve years old. I've kept it just in case we ever sell the caravan. Different ones are used for different cub camps depending on if Malc is going and  how many boys are going too.
In the summer the boys will often put one up in the back garden and sleep in it for a couple of nights.
When we got home from Upton Park yesterday there was a note through the door asking me to ring my friend, Spinner Val, so called because we know two Val's and this one spins wool! Simples!
So I duly rang and she offered me a four man tent that she's had in the loft for years.
We picked it up this morning and Malc and Callum erected it in the front garden this afternoon.
It's not bad is it?

The boys sat in it playing for a while joined by one of their little friends.

It has now been taken down and is being put up out in the back garden as Clark wants to sleep in it tonight. He's had to move the rabbits and their runs so that he can erect it.
My step dad had to go to an exercise class today, his stroke has left him with a slight weakness down his left side, it really is slight but he's going to strengthen it up, so Mum came round to spend some time with us. It was nice to have a natter.
Malc has just taken Eden to a friends house, she's staying there the night.
I'm going to spend the evening crocheting quite big granny squares with Callum as he's making a blanket to cover his bed in beige and a light green to match the colours of his room.

I forgot my camera!

This afternoon we met my Mum and Step dad at Upton Park, it's is a lovely place quite near us, unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I'm going to have to post pictures from the internet.
This is the main house, it's now been licensed for weddings and there's a lovely walled garden that they shut when a wedding is on and they put up gazebos, if the weather is nice I would imagine it would be the perfect setting.

 This is a closer view

This is the back of the house, next to where the cars are parked is a square of grass with a wall and beyond that wall is a huge field with a duck pond on one side of it and a wood at the bottom of it, it really does have everything there.

 This next picture shows some of the more formal gardens, this is called the "walled garden" The flowers and bushes in there are also beautiful when they are all in bloom.

This picture is brilliant because the man and lady serving are called John and Maureen, they live three doors away from us and they volunteer at the plant centre there. We often pop in to see them and have a chat when we visit the park. You're more likely to catch them up there than at home.

I've just done loads of ironing, the boys are playing outside with their friends again. They are sleeping so well with all this running, cycling and fresh air!
Got to go and start making some tea, see you soon!

Back online

It's been horrible without internet, Eden has not been happy. I've had people texting asking why I wasn't on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else in cyber world!
On the other hand we've been out loads, getting tanned, walking dogs and celebrating birthdays.
Solomans was on Saturday, so we went to our favourite place for breakfast, got home and the boys played outside all day with their bikes and friends! That's how Soloman wanted to spend his special day!
We did have a cake, the remit was " a sponge cake covered in sweets!"
I did my best to oblige, we had our fountain candles again, this time they were much more successful.

 We live about half a mile from a local beach, it's sand and stone, nonetheless it's a nice little beach, only really known about by the locals so it wasn't very busy when we popped down there on Sunday afternoon.
All the boys went for a paddle but I didn't get a picture of Callum and Clark unfortunately.

 Today we went to Wareham forest, the sun was glorious and we walked for about one and a half hours.

 Found these forest creatures,

 The scenery is just beautiful, I never tire of this forest, there are so many routes you can take, we saw two other people but usually when we go we don't see a soul.

In other news my step dad has been ill so we have been at theirs helping to do some housework and cooking for my Mum. He's much better now and we are hoping to meet up at a local park.
So hopefully more pictures and news tomorrow!
Apologies too for not leaving comments on blogs I read lately, now we are "connected" again I should be commenting soon.

No Internet. Be back Monday ( hopefully! )

On the Beach

We have some lovely beaches here in Dorset, so today we thought we'd take our buckets and spades and visit one.
My Mum and step dad joined us.
Eden's doing loads of revision for her exams and didn't want to join us, so she stayed at home and looked after the dogs.
We found an empty bench and parked ourselves there.

 We also took a flask and some crisps and cakes

 We wore our coats and the boys wore their wellies although there was a nippy breeze at times there were episodes of beautiful sunshine.

Sandcastles were built and the boys did a bit of paddling in the sea. They also found some little fish around the rocks on the breakwaters.

Cody decided that he would dig like a dog!

They bought their own ice creams with their pocket money and we spent nearly four hours there. Mum and Ed left after about two hours as they were getting a bit cold.
By the time we left the boys bare feet were numb as they'd been paddling and the water was so cold.
We walked back along the beach and for some reason  there was the bucket to a digger there so the boys posed for a picture.

We've all had hot baths to warm us through and clean the sand off.
The boys had such a great time and they're asking to go again soon.
I love it when we have lovely days out which don't cost anything, where imagination takes over and they all play together nicely. They don't happen very often so I'm going to savour it.

Prom shoes.

Edens prom shoes.
4 1/2 inch heels!
Because she's a midget!
Albeit a 5ft 9inch one!

And the walls come tumbling down!

Our life is so hectic and so full that there's not a lot of room for adjustment. When something in the routine breaks down, everything collapses.
This week I feel like I've lost days, been so busy and had so little sleep. Wednesday I did everything on automatic. Thursday was better and today I've purposely done nothing except basic house work. I've ordered everyone not to book anything and we've all had the quietest of days to relax and rest our minds and bodies.
I won't go into the full details of everything that happened with Malc, but I called an ambulance for him in the early hours of Sunday morning as he was shivering uncontrollably and clutching his stomach in pain. Fifty minutes later a first responder arrived who assured us that an ambulance was following. He gave Malc morphine straight away, he knew nothing of his symptoms, he'd been told he had shortness of breath! Thirty minutes later he contacted control by his radio to find out where the ambulance was only to be told one hadn't been dispatched. He gave Malc more morphine but wouldn't be able to give him any more and he knew the effects of the drug would run out in about an hour so after waiting another 45 minutes with us decided to take us in by his car, which apparently he's not meant to do!
Malc was seen and put on a ward, had an x-ray, ct scan and ultrasound on his kidneys and after first diagnosing a chest and kidney infection they changed it to a chest infection right at the bottom of his lungs that was passing through the membrane through to his internal organs in his tummy. He was put on IV antibiotics and stayed in that night. The next day they moved him onto a surgical ward because there were no beds anywhere else, we couldn't visit because it was only for an hour and just two people at a time. By dinnertime he'd had enough and was going to discharge himself as he was by then on antibiotics orally. The doctor came round and discharged him on the provision that he saw his own GP by the end of the week to make sure the infection had gone.
Tuesday he had his six month appointment with his chest consultant anyway and she gave him steroids which he usually needs to clear up chest infections. He'd told the doctor on the ward this but they wouldn't listen which is another reason that he wanted to leave.
As he's self employed I had to do his work with the boys which was very stressful as I don't know where most of his rounds and drop offs are!
He's been to see his local GP now and although he has to finish the course of meds it looks like the infection has gone, which is good news as if it didn't go he would have to go back into hospital to maybe have his lungs drained! Doesn't bear thinking about!
Friday was the usual Youth Club, Beavers and Clark had Scouts in a local forest running around in the pitch black looking for Easter eggs! Rather him than me!
Today as I said has been quiet, I had these to sew up.

I didn't do any knitting until yesterday and I'd forgotten what size I was knitting so I had to count the stitches to work it out! 

Callum made these lovely Brownies this afternoon, which I can tell you are delicious.
So we continue getting back to our busy, hectic schedule. Thankfully it's the Easter Hols so although Malc still has to work Eden is off to lend a hand if needed. The children have been great, really pulling together to help me either with Malcs work or at home when needed.
Thank you for your well wishes, Karen, Kath, Dreamer, Amanda, Jo, Sue, Morgan, C, Helen, Em, Melissa and to newbie Mitzi, who discovered my blog recently and must have wondered what on earth was happening!
I opened my emails in the mornings and found a few new comments each day which really cheered me up and helped me to start my day!